[Foundation-l] Wikimedia Pennsylvania

[Robert Horning]

Dan Rosenthal wrote:
> On Jul 11, 2007, at 4:10 PM, GerardM wrote:
>
>   
>> When you create many "chapters" not based on legal necessity, the
>> administrative overhead is such that it would be mind boggling.
>>     
>
>
>   
>> I do not think it makes sense to allow such local chapters the same  
>> status
>> as national chapters.
>>     
>
> One problem with that line of reasoning is that many of our US states  
> are comparative in size to european countries (of all sizes, from the  
> biggest to the smallest). They should be equally represented the same  
> way.
>
> Another is that there are differing laws between states, so I'm not  
> sure where you get that statement from, nor do I get where the  
> administrative overhead comes from.
>
> -dan
>   
The only thing that becomes a major issue when crossing state lines is 
dealing with things like real estate and employees who physically work 
in multiple states... and that can be dealt with through reasonable 
means as well.

I served on the governing board for a Head Start agency that crossed 
into two different states, and had to deal with the real estate and 
issues of employment in two states.  In that particular case, there was 
still only one corporation set up but we did have to keep the financial 
transactions seperate between the two states (Idaho and Utah) and broken 
that activity down for financial reporting purposes.  This may be an 
issue for Wikimedia chapters that cross state lines, but it doesn't 
affect fundraising so much other than knowing what kinds of fundraising 
activities might be discouraged or encouraged by local governments.  A 
bake sale or garage sale in one place might be fine but not OK somewhere 
else.... just to give some examples.  And people in those local areas 
would know this information.... or be able to find out in a hurry.

The main advantage here is just trying to get people organized without 
having to put people on airplanes and organize something akin to a 
Wikimania conference, but step it up a notch from just a group that gets 
together and drinks coffee while complaining about Wikimedia projects.  
IRC channels work plenty fine for that last issue, but sometimes you 
like to have conversations face to face as well.

-- Robert Horning